Ex-British soldier who escaped from prison found guilty of spying for Iran

LONDON (AP) — A former British soldier with a brave face. Escape from London prison The man was found guilty of spying for Iran on Thursday, prompting a daylong search.

Transmission of sensitive information to the Iranian intelligence service.

Daniel Khalife, 23, was found guilty by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court of breaching Britain’s Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act by collecting information useful to hostile Iran. He was cleared of charges of planting a fake bomb in his military barracks.

Prosecutors said Khalifa played a “cynical game” by claiming he wanted to be a spy after handing over a large amount of restricted and classified material to Iran’s intelligence service, including the names of special forces officers.

Khalife said he had been in contact with people in the Iranian government but that it was ultimately part of a ruse to work as a double agent for Britain, a plan he said he picked up on by watching the TV show “Homeland.”

“I wanted to use my background to advance our national security,” he told jurors.

Defense lawyer Gul Nawaz Hussain said Khalife’s desire to become James Bond was naive, stupid and a joke. He said his client was more “Scooby Doo” than “007.”

Khalife’s case received little attention until he escaped from a London prison in September 2023 and went on the run for three days.

Khalife broke free by tying himself under a delivery truck while working in the kitchen at Wandsworth Prison in south London. After a massive search he was finally caught on a canal road.

The Victorian prison break has exposed the far greater weaknesses of the country’s aging and overcrowded penitentiary system. An investigation continues into how Khalife was able to escape and whether others helped him.

During his trial, Khalife pleaded guilty to escape but continued to contest the espionage charges.

Khalife joined the army at 16 and was assigned to the Royal Corps of Signals, a communications unit deployed with battlefield troops as well as special forces and intelligence teams.

He was told that he could not join the intelligence service because his mother was Iranian.

Prosecutors said he reached out to a man with ties to Iranian intelligence at age 17 and began passing on information. He was granted NATO secret security clearance when he participated in a joint exercise at Fort Cavazos in Texas in early 2021.

British security officials were unaware of Khalifa’s contacts with the Iranians until he contacted MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, offering to work as a double agent.

He said he gained the trust of his Iranian handlers by contacting MI6 anonymously, who rewarded him by leaving a bag containing $2,000 in cash (£1,578) in a park in north London.

But prosecutors said they used evidence from Khalifa’s cellphones, notes he wrote to himself and security camera footage to show that some of the army documents were genuine and that he collected and shared classified information.

“He secretly sought and obtained copies of confidential and sensitive information that he knew was protected and passed them on to individuals he believed were acting on behalf of the Iranian state,” said Bethan David, of the Crown Prosecution Service. “Sharing the information could expose military personnel to serious harm or risk to life and could undermine the safety and security of the United Kingdom.”